Resma
Resma, known officially as The People's Republic of Resma, is the main setting of the Deference series. History Resma was founded long before most modern countries and has far advanced tech. Not only does it have such advanced tech, it also has Pokémon...and it is said tech that has helped Resma evade discovery until recently, when Portuguese cruise ship The Silveira ''landed on its shores (in July 2043). In exchange for the passengers' freedom, Portugal managed to keep Resma's existence a secret from the rest of the world for 7 years. In late October 2048, Portugal sent some miners to try to harvest natural resources from Resma's lands thinking they wouldn't care. This greatly angered the Resmarian leader, Sage Chiaki Crownleaf, but not to the point of full-out war. On November 1st, 2048, the Resmarian government imposed economic sanctions against Portugal---specifically the vehicles they imported from them---and hiked taxes on the items from their original 5% to 15%. In early March 2049, however, things escalated---they got worse. Portuguese officials told the world about Resma's existence. Although no-one believed them, the Resmarian Crownleaf declared war on Portugal almost immediately and bombed Lisbon. Since then, Resma and Portugal have been at war, and, as of the start of the series (August 8th, 2050), casualties from the war have reached over a hundred thousand people. Major Cities A few major cities in Resma include: * Double Butterscotch Hills (biggest city; part of the Seppar Region) * Nova Helios (oldest non-grounded / sky city; highest point in the Kumoani Region) * New Jakarta (oldest grounded / land city; part of the Sespet Region) * Tikhozino (only city to be fully inhabited by immigrants) * Kara's Vale (founded by a Russian-Resmarian; part of the Sespet Region) Government Old Government The old government of Resma is a totalitarian dictatorship---but, despite having positions to serve the dictator/Crownleaf, the Crownleaf had the most power. This position could override what the other positions said (or completely ignore them), and could only be female. As a dictatorship, whatever the Crownleaf said applied to everyone. While most Crownleaves were fair---to a point, at least---, some, like Sage Chiaki Crownleaf, were not. In the old government, they had an official religion: Dryathy---which is based on the religion of Ancient Egypt. Below is a list of people who have what type of power. Since they had Pokémon in Resma, they set up a rule here that says that you must be either 21 years of age or a high-ranking official to get a Pokémon. ''Each rank will be listed like this: '' ''Rank - Student Council equivalent (if necessary; the equivalent is behind the title---Council or Country---sometimes) Highest Power (Dictator; their Subordinates) * Crownleaf Next, we have the Dictator's seven Subordinates. Each of them has a Pokémon Gym, and that Subordinate runs the region it is assigned to the same way the dictator would. They have less power than the dictator. * Subordinate 1: Hysan Dax - Psychic Gym; Seppar Region * Subordinate 2: Niyati Yashpal - Bug Gym; Kumoani Region * Subordinates 3 & 4: Stina and Ruben Hamre (twins) - Fire Gym; Sespet Region * Subordinate 5: Nintau (Venin) Chavalit - Poison Gym; Ralos Region * Subordinate 6: Seri (Dyno) Chavalit - Electric Gym; Roton Region * Subordinate 7: Celeste Pearson - Flying Gym; Kalre Region (all the sky cities except Nova Helios make up this region) Second-Highest Power (The Council) The last two ranks on the Council member list are the ranks that get voted on by the people. * Head Councellor - Council President * Senior Councellor - Council Vice President * Commander-in-Chief - Sergeant-at-arms; manages the Resmarian Armed Forces * Treasurer - Country Treasurer * Third Councellor - Country Auditor; can only be male * Diplomat - Public Relations Officer; there can only be a max of five at a time Third-Highest Power (Priests/Priestesses) * Vizier - always male; performs religious ceremonies (one per Crownleaf) * Lunar Priestesses - always female; determines lucky/unlucky dates on the calendar * Sau Priestesses - always female; combines magic with religion and assists the Vizier * ''Wab'' Priests/Priestesses - either gender; does menial tasks at temples and can be hired on for personal ceremonies Other Ranks There are a couple of other ranks in the government, but they're not assigned to a power ranking. Members mentioned in each group are listed below the group title, following the same format as above. Resmarian Secret Service (RSS) * Karina (Karinushka) Danilovna Serova - Agent * Hyungwon Siharath - Officer (Uniformed Division) * Ashlynn Woodsong - Director of the Secret Service * Kailani Siharath - Chief of the Uniformed Division * Taikan Wakatsuki - Assistant Special Agent in Charge * Kyoko Wakatsuki - Officer (Uniformed Division) New Government In the New Government, most of the positions in the Old Government were either modified or abolished. When the new government came into effect, everyone was surprised by how much more freedom they had, although many were still scared to be in power. Like the U.S., Resma under the new government is a democracy, with a President as their head. They still have Pokémon Gyms, except now they aren't run by subordinates like before, and anyone can become a Pokémon trainer.